JTA — The US Federal Emergency Management Agency has lifted a freeze on security funding for religious institutions this week, ending a months-long pause that drew alarm from Jewish groups that had advocated for expanded federal security funding.
The Nonprofit Security Grant Program provides funding for synagogues, schools and Jewish community centers to pay for security measures to protect their buildings from attack. Congress provided $274.5 million for the program in 2025.
Reimbursement payments to participating institutions were halted in March as part of an overall funding freeze on FEMA, the federal disaster relief agency. At the time, nearly 80 members of Congress from both parties signed a letter urging the Trump administration to reverse course.
That appears to have happened this week, Jewish Insider reported on Friday, citing an email sent by Jewish Federations of North America to its member federations.
“Nonprofit Security Grant Program funds are essential to keeping our communities safe, especially amid rising antisemitism,” Karen Paikin Barall, the Jewish Federations of North America vice president for government relations, said in an emailed statement. “We are relieved that the government’s review process has concluded and that funds will now be released, allowing nonprofits to be reimbursed for critical security investments they’ve already made.”
JFNA and the Secure Community Network, a nonprofit that helps Jewish organizations apply for NSGP grants, were alerted that FEMA and the US Department of Homeland Security would immediately resume processing grant payment requests this week.
A New York Police Department (NYPD) car is seen in New York on January 12, 2024. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images/AFP)
The news comes after a group of more than 130 House lawmakers signed a letter obtained by Jewish Insider urging House appropriators to allocate $500 million to the program for 2026.
Antisemitism has been on the rise in the US since the October 7, 2023, Hamas onslaught, which saw terrorists invade Israel, killing some 1,200 people and kidnapping 251.
In the year following the October 7 attack, the Anti-Defamation League found that there were 10,000 antisemitic incidents in the US, an over 200 percent rise compared to the same period the previous year.
According to the FBI, antisemitic hate crimes surged by 63% in 2023.
Last month, the official residence of Pennsylvania’s Jewish governor, Josh Shapiro, was the target of an arson attack.
The Times of Israel Staff contributed to this report.
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